Why did Dr Parkes choose to Specialise in IBD?

I remember attending my first IBD clinic when I was just a junior doctor around 20 years ago. I remember how young the patients were compared to other specialities, at times how sick they were but how rapidly they responded to the right treatment. IBD medicine has a bit of everything for a physician, a multi-disciplinary approach, complex immunology, exciting new agents, endoscopy, a fantastic national and international community but at its heart is the tremendous honour and privilege of helping patients with IBD.

 

Why is the Patient Panel so important?

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The RLH IBD Patient Panel is such an important part of our team, being able to ensure that the patient voice is heard in our service plans is so important and I am so grateful for all the time that patients sacrifice to help us. I think I was particularly amazed at how quickly we were able to collect feedback on the switch to telephone clinics and the changes we made in response to the pandemic. Just a massive thank you for all your work.